Building Design Competition Round 4

[dleung]

Let's vote after Andrew submits his. cheers!

The other 4 entries below:

Originally Posted by dleung

I'm just going to do a data dump here and it can be reposted on a new thread when it comes to it

The Coastal Tower is a blend of far-east and Coast-Salish motifs anchored to the bedrock in a manner reflecting the tapering verticality of the coastal rainforest. A throwback to mid-2000's west-coast contemporary, which I think we didn't get enough of prior to the current trend towards all things miami-beach. Tower heights are 188 and 107m with a 56m office podium to align with the mid-height datums established by neighbouring buildings and the first section of Telus garden.























I had originally envisioned a version where the graphic wall set inside the "hollow tree trunk" core is textured concrete with water trickling down the sloped lower half from the small reflective pool atop the podium, with a natural mossy discolouration similar to the buttress runnels from the olympic oval, but the black granite was easier to render

Originally Posted by ericmacm

I opted for only a single tower. The tower is purely office, and would be the tallest office tower in Vancouver at 45s and 189m tall. The tower includes amenity floors on the 5th and 15th floors, and a small green roof at the top floor of the tower. Floors 2-4 have 2,826 sqm floor plates, floors 5-14 have 1,730 sqm floor plates, and the main tower has 748 sqm floor plates, culminating at a total of 25,778 sqm of office space.

Design inspirations were influenced by the clean minimalism of the Bay-Adelaide Centre in Toronto, and the overhanging ledges of the Exchange Tower in Vancouver. I can also say that the recent release of Cyberpunk 2077 inspired a few of my design choices as well.

Originally Posted by urbandreamer

Three towers:
- 32 storey residential tower on the corner of Robson and Richards with 295 units
- 38 storey residential tower on Richards with 355 units
- 26 storey hotel on Seymour Street with 180 rooms
- retail at grade
- 2nd and 3rd floor amenity space
- plenty of green roofs
- underground parking

Seymour



Robson


Richards



rear alley

Originally Posted by koops65

I'm having a rough time with my computer lately for some reason. Here is my entry, for better or worse:

[IMG][/IMG]

[TorontoDrew]

I missed this one guys. Good jobs all. I love been moving my office around and haven't set my comp back up.

I will 100% join in the next round.

[ShavedParmesanCheese]

I really like Urbandreamer's hotel design, especially at street level I also like how the site's divided into multiple distinct towers, instead of one huge tower or a set of triplets. With good construction this would make a fantastic project!

[MonkeyRonin]

Dang dleung, very well-considered and well-presented proposal. Love the wood mullion & floor detailing, double-height balconies, and the tapered board-marked concrete (?) fins.

My only criticism is that the chevron mullions on the protruding glass box above the entrance don't really relate to anything on the rest of the building. But either way, that's something I'd love to see built! (and it seems feasible enough for a higher-end project)

[urbandreamer]

Koops65: download SketchUp free (I think maybe it's in the browser now?) and Google Earth for the next competition. Watch a few Youtube tutorials or check the SketchUp forums for answers on how to use it.

Congrats to the winner.

[Coldrsx]

Professionals going to profession.

Nice job all and great to see such variety.

DL though, wow!

[dleung]

Originally Posted by urbandreamer

Koops65: download SketchUp free (I think maybe it's in the browser now?) and Google Earth for the next competition. Watch a few Youtube tutorials or check the SketchUp forums for answers on how to use it.

2nded! It's super user-friendly. In case he missed my example on the other thread:

Originally Posted by dleung

Koops, you should try Google Sketchup - it's free, super simple/intuitive to learn and can load directly into Google Earth without photoshop, like this:

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

Dang dleung, very well-considered and well-presented proposal. Love the wood mullion & floor detailing, double-height balconies, and the tapered board-marked concrete (?) fins.

My only criticism is that the chevron mullions on the protruding glass box above the entrance don't really relate to anything on the rest of the building. But either way, that's something I'd love to see built! (and it seems feasible enough for a higher-end project)

Thanks! Yeah I agree the chevrons over complicates things. I was trying to allude to Haida longhouse frames, and also thinking of Frank Lloyd Wright's aboriginal-inspired stain glass windows, though that's probably the wrong region haha. Maybe if they were upside down, they'll relate to the butterfly entry canopy instead.

And good point Andrew about the balconies

[urbandreamer]

^You won so time to pick a new site.

[dleung]

Hmm, any suggestions? The smaller the site the better!

[ericmacm]

I think we should revisit Halifax for the next round. There are a few nice sites in the downtown core that would benefit from a landmark tower.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by dleung

Hmm, any suggestions? The smaller the site the better!

I have a suggestion, if I may. The old Registry Office site in Ottawa, behind the Rideau Centre. It's a small site, includes a heritage building and fronts streets at two levels (if the proposal were to go over the parking entrance of the Rideau Centre and Convention Centre).

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ol...!4d-75.6893312



Some history about the building:

https://heritageottawa.org/50years/city-registry-office

[urbandreamer]

35-43 Camden Street, Toronto: includes the small older brick building on the left #35 Camden + the parking lot

~12 storeys height limit.

(I believe Lamb owns the site.)

[TorontoDrew]

What about Hamilton? It has so many empty lots in its core.

[dleung]

Originally Posted by TorontoDrew

What about Hamilton? It has so many empty lots in its core.

How bout this site? Interesting topography, quite walkable. There's a rezoning project for an 11 storey tower underway, but it's hideous

121 St Joseph, Hamilton
https://www.google.ca/maps/place/43%...!4d-79.8679649

[urbandreamer]

This corner lot at King William and James St N bugs the hell out of me:
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.2575...7i16384!8i8192

Or King and Catharine beside that Stinson project:
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.2553...7i16384!8i8192

My favourite: this infill lot further east at 172-180 King St E:
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.2549...7i16384!8i8192
Just the lot between the old buildings:
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.2546...7i16384!8i8192

Or King and Wellington
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.2535...7i16384!8i8192

A flatiron site would be interesting. Here's one in Westdale - obviously you're not getting a highrise here but a boutique infill midrise to replace a Tim Hortons yes please:
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.2630...7i16384!8i8192

[urbandreamer]

ShavedParm, thanks. I cleaned up the design a bit more with a change to red brick on the corner building. I'm influenced by contemporary UK, Dutch and German architecture. I find the stereotypical Vancouver designs too fussy, like they're designed by a committee of 100 architects who all speak different languages so they just toss everything at the project and it ends up looking mediocre. I also hate the master-planned tower on generic podium look.

[dleung]

My issue with the downtown Hamilton parking lot sites is there are so many of them - no single project will "complete" the immediate surroundings; and the solutions for most of those sites seem so self-evident imo: ie masonry base aligned with neighbouring buildings with a hariri-pontarini-style glass thing floating above it.

I think it'll be cool to try a site that has some serious topographic changes for once!

Originally Posted by dleung

How bout this site? Interesting topography, quite walkable. There's a rezoning project for an 11 storey tower underway, but it's hideous

121 St Joseph, Hamilton
https://www.google.ca/maps/place/43%...!4d-79.8679649

[urbandreamer]

I think Hamilton should impose a strict height limit - 8 storeys - and material selection - red brick for the first 6 storeys minimum. Let the city become Ontario's Hamburg not Rotterdam.

Ok I'll go with the site you selected on St Joseph's Drive - although the area isn't really urban it's in a transition zone between the Upper and Lower mountain. Are we sticking to the 12 storey height proposed?

[dleung]

As with the other sites, the height is only limited to what you think is reasonable. I think last round everyone ended up with a similar density despite having different massing and heights.

Forgot to mention noticing a "house style" emerging with you and Eric

[TorontoDrew]

Ya can we choose a more urban setting? Something along the now scrapped (on hold I hope) LRT Line.